Letter to the Editor: Letter about ocean pollution…

To the Editor,

I’m here from Kingsland Elementary school and I’m writing about ocean pollution. I’m writing because there is about 4,000 million pounds of trash in the ocean, or the size of Texas four times. And, most of this trash is plastic. Plastic cannot be broken down by water, only the sun’s rays can. Plastic is made up of chemicals that can’t be broken down by water.

We need to design a new plastic that can be broken down. Also, we need to remember to recycle and reuse. All that trash gets there from small streams and canals. There are about 100 million marine animals dying per year.

The global conveyer belt pushes all of this junk in to large groups called gyres. The gyres break apart and gather up on local beaches. There are five gyres in the Indian Ocean, and about 19 in the Pacific Ocean. Over one million birds are killed each year because they consume this plastic, which they cannot digest.

We should not litter because the wind pushes all of that trash in the ocean. When plastic lands or is dumped in the ocean it releases a toxin that the marine animals at the bottom of the the food chain inhale and it kills them.

So, remember to use less plastic and recycle so we can get rid of the trash in the ocean.

Nathaniel Drees

Spring Valley, Minn.